PRS/RT(2009)2/1

PROJECT REPORT SUMMARY

Project nr: / RT(2009)2
Subject: / Capacity building in the area of food safety and food management in China for public sector representatives.
Sponsored by (RT): / The event was hosted by the Bureau for Quality and Safety Supervision on Agro Products of the China Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and organised by the Institute of Agro-Food Science and Technology (IAFST) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). The conference was financed by CAAS with budgetary support of the MOU.
Orange House Partnership was requested to organise day 1 and 2 of the 3-days conference. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR, Bundesinstitut für Risokobewertung) and the German Federal Association for Technical Cooperation (GTZ, (Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeitung) were requested to organise day 3.
Start and end-dates and venue: / 5-7 May 2010, at the Rongyuan Hall of the Central Garden Hotel in Beijing, China
Experts involved: / Orange House Partnership (OHP):
  • Dr Jon Bell, OHP, formerly Executive Director of the British Food Standards Agency (FSA);
  • Dr Herman Koëter, OHP, formerly Scientific Director of the European Food safety Authority (EFSA);
Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR):
  • Prof Andreas Hensel, President;
  • Prof Reiner Wittkowski, Vice-President;
  • Dr Klaus Abraham, Department of Food Safety;
  • Prof Thomas Platzek, Toxicology of Consumer Products Unit;
  • Dr Wenna Xu, Executive Office.
German Federal Association for Technical Cooperation (GTZ):
  • Dr Gerd Fleischer, Director, Programme director.
Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA):
  • Dr Hongyan Dong, Director General, MOA;
  • Dr Xiaojun Xu, Deputy Director General, MOA;
Chinese Ministry of Health (MOH):
  • Prof Ning Li, Deputy Director, Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control, CDC.

Background and Objectives: / The background of this meeting is the obvious, strong need of the Chinese authorities to build scientific and technical capacity in the area of food safety assessment, monitoring and control. The Ministry of Health is responsible for the implementation of the New Food Law which covers all food aspects, including agriculture products from the moment they become merchandise (e.g., grain, corn, soya beans, fruits and vegetables) or, for animals, once they are slaughtered. Agriculture, as well as animal breeding are part of separate legislationsand are the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture. Obviously, there is a substantial grey area where responsibilities overlap and coordination and cooperation is necessary.
The objective of this conference was to explain principles of risk assessment and risk management with the audience (largely staff of the MOA and MOH and PhD students of the CAAS and Shanghai Ocean University) and share European (OHP) and German (BfR and GTZ) experience with the EU Food Law implementation since 2002. Although there was plenty repetition with training and seminars given last year by OHP in China, attendants were largely different from those trained before.
Furthermore, the meeting was considered an excellent opportunity for networking, mutual exchange of information and teambuilding between both ministries taking into account their respective responsibilities in the food and feed area.
Meetings and Missions: / The meeting was titled: “Conference on Risk Assessment of Agro-Foods”.
Main Topics and observations: / Following a series of short formal addresses by MOA, OHP, BfR and GTZ, respectively, during the morning session OHP focussed on fundamental principles of food risk analysis and assessment, practical aspects were explained including data collection and reporting. During the afternoon the OHP focus was on risk management, again covering both fundamental and practical aspects. The 2nd day was dedicated to 4 practical cases which were addressed in a step-by-step approach, involving the audience in each step by posing questions.
On the 3rd day 4 representatives of the BfR and one CAAS expert gave lectures on specific subjects such as food contact materials, traceability (mainly focussing on authenticity and food quality, using wines as example) and coumarin risk assessment.
Overall observations include:
  • the conference was unbalanced in the sense that 2 experts (from OHP) were requested to cover almost 2 full days, whereas 5 experts (from BfR and CAAS) wereexpected to cover only one day;
  • Both the Chinese MOH and MOA are strongly focussed on Germany with respect tocapacity building assistance;
  • The audience was very pleased with the OHP approach of theoretical introductions followed by practical case studies;
  • It was again clear that more training is needed, in particular in the provinces and at universities.

Resources: / The conference was fully financed by the Ministry of Agriculture (through CAAS) which covered the meeting venue costs, travel expenses of all experts and all other expenses.
OHP offered its expertise and experts free of charge other than full reimbursement of all expenses. In addition OHP invested approximately 5 working days for the preparation of the presentations and case examples (for both experts together) and 10 working days for the conference itself including travel time and another working day for management and administrative issues: a total of 16 working days
Documentation (upon request): /
  • Final Agenda of the Conference;
  • OHP presentations 5 May morning session
  • OHP presentations 5 May afternoon session
  • OHP presentations 6 May morning session
  • OHP presentations 6 May afternoon session

Date: / 28June 2010
Signature: / Herman B.W.M.Koëter

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